American taxpayers will not be paying for the ongoing appeal of President Donald Trump’s $83 million defamation case, a federal appeals court determined on Wednesday.
A panel of judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied Trump’s request to have Justice Department lawyers argue in his appeal of columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against Trump.
A New York jury last year ordered Trump to pay the former Elle magazine columnist $83.3 million in damages for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her accusation that he sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied all allegations.
DOJ lawyers had argued that since some of Trump’s alleged conduct fell within the scope of his role as president, the Justice Department should be able to defend the president in court.
President Donald Trump speaks with the media during a meeting with members of the Juventus soccer club in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, June 18, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Substitution is required because once the Attorney General certifies that a defendant is acting within the scope of his office or employment, the United States is the party defendant unless and until a court rules to the contrary,” they argued.
ABC News has reached out to Trump’s legal team for comment.
Oral arguments in Trump’s appeal of the case are set for June 24.
Last week the 2nd Circuit denied Trump’s request to rehear his challenge to a $5 million civil judgment another jury awarded Carroll in 2023.
